I just listened to the new Robert Wyatt - Comicopera
― chaki, Thursday, 11 October 2007 00:43 (sixteen years ago) link
i like the music on rock bottom a lot but his voice is going to take some getting used to.
― mr x, Monday, 17 December 2007 18:54 (sixteen years ago) link
So has Ned heard more Robert Wyatt since this thread was started? -- amateurist (amateurist), Saturday, 5 July 2003
This's a good question indeed, hah.
On a somewhat (un)related track I'd also like to kno' - so has the verbose'ssimist Otis Wheeler chewed off his own poisonauseous tongue yet?
― t**t, Monday, 17 December 2007 19:35 (sixteen years ago) link
I bought Phil Manzanera's Diamond Head last weekend and was intrigued by the voice on the first track. Turned out it's Wyatt, on a cover/version of one of his own songs. I also liked the interview in Wire earlier this year. Where's a good place to start in his own discography? Straight to Rock Bottom?
― willem, Monday, 17 December 2007 19:36 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah sure, it's great. As I recall the other ones most recommended above are Shleep and Cuckooland, I am also really digging the new one a lot.
― sleeve, Monday, 17 December 2007 19:42 (sixteen years ago) link
(expost)
Willem -- Yup, you could as well go through this entire thread again, to make up your mind! :) Well why not start with the new one, Comicopera, even? Or with Old Rottenhat?
As per Manzanera-Wyatt links, Wyatt plays and sings on quite a few Manzanera solo platters. I have 50 Minutes Later and 6pm, which are from 2005 & 2004, and he sure's on there too.
― t**t, Monday, 17 December 2007 19:43 (sixteen years ago) link
thx sleeve & t**t, read the thread - what a wealth of info and feelings about the man and his music. have started downloading.
― willem, Monday, 17 December 2007 21:00 (sixteen years ago) link
Comicopera may be my album of the year. It's the first thing I've heard by him too.
― filthy dylan, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 04:12 (sixteen years ago) link
It's the album of 2007 in The Wire magazine.
― krakow, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 10:10 (sixteen years ago) link
Since this thread is dominated by a fight over Wyatt's politics and Tom mentioned "Alliance" long ago, it's interesting to have come across this interesting point about the song courtesy of Marcello's CoM (excellent) entry on Cuckooland:
(Although Wyatt doesn’t mention it on the sleeve, his 1985 album Old Rottenhat begins with a deceptively bitter song called “Alliance,” essentially an attack on his former Matching Mole colleague and former fellow CP member, bassist Bill McCormick, for crossing over to the SDP. “It’s hard to talk to enemies/And we are enemies/What we had in common/Makes it even worse.” One wonders if this still rankles with him. McCormick is also, incidentally, the brother of the late Ian MacDonald)
Said lyrics:
There is a kind of compromise you are master ofYour endless gentle nudging left us polarisedIt's hard to talk to enemies, we are enemiesWhat we had in common makes it even worseYou're proud of being middle class (meaning upper class)You say you're self sufficient (but you don't dig your own coal)I think that what you're frightened of more than anythingis knowing you need workers more than they need you"A herd of independent minds" Chomsky got it rightJogging into battle waving old school ties
These are some of the most bitter lyrics I've ever read -- and Marcello's right when he says "deceptively" so, b/c the melody is so languid and airy I'd just assumed that this was about some public figure, not a friend. My impression of Bill MacCormick was that he'd given up music to fight the good fight running for elected office. My my.
― The One, The Only... (Naive Teen Idol), Sunday, 16 November 2008 19:02 (fifteen years ago) link
"Heaps Of Sheeps" really hitting the spot
― Robin van Injury (country matters), Friday, 13 February 2009 03:18 (fifteen years ago) link
one of his very best
― sleeve, Friday, 13 February 2009 03:20 (fifteen years ago) link
That album's pretty agreeable as a whole, but HOS and "Alien" are the ones for me. Also "Was A Friend".
― Robin van Injury (country matters), Friday, 13 February 2009 03:22 (fifteen years ago) link
"heaps of sheeps" always reminds me of cities blanketed by snow
― 69, Friday, 13 February 2009 15:19 (fifteen years ago) link
The wordless vocal bit is juuuuust heavenly
― Robin van Injury (country matters), Friday, 13 February 2009 15:19 (fifteen years ago) link
haha history repeating
― alien vs the smiths (country matters), Thursday, 17 September 2009 15:19 (fifteen years ago) link
i really need to get more wyatt in my life. that one album with 'little red riding hood' on it is Kid A 20-or-so years before the fact.
― dog latin, Thursday, 17 September 2009 15:22 (fifteen years ago) link
nah, it's way better than that :D
― alien vs the smiths (country matters), Thursday, 17 September 2009 15:22 (fifteen years ago) link
"beer as in braindeer" from the first matching mole album sounds a whole lot like damo-era can. never much considered a canterbury-kraut synergy before, but even robert's drumming's really similar to jaki liebezeit's tribal thump thump
― kamerad, Thursday, 31 December 2009 18:01 (fourteen years ago) link
new album with strings, violin, and sax....standards + originals...
http://www.dominorecordco.com/uk/news/07-07-10/album-for-the-ghosts-within-out-11th-october/
! didn't know about this!
― rawkan the chief (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 17 September 2010 20:27 (fourteen years ago) link
love RW's happy beardy face
― Hymie in Galveston (admrl), Friday, 17 September 2010 20:28 (fourteen years ago) link
me too! this songs is real pretty...making me happy
― rawkan the chief (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 17 September 2010 20:29 (fourteen years ago) link
!!!
― Hadrian VIII, Friday, 17 September 2010 21:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Sounds very interesting - but I can't imagine him bettering his original cover of "At last I am Free"
― Deluxe Merseybeat Wig (Jack Battery-Pack), Saturday, 18 September 2010 15:54 (fourteen years ago) link
The Chic version is better. Why some old communist would bore us to death with a useless cover of Chic is beyond me. Wouldn't the suffering masses prefer a box set?
― Funye West! (u s steel), Monday, 7 March 2011 15:38 (thirteen years ago) link
His version is not that different really. The song was tailor made for him imo.
― Tom D (Tom D.), Tuesday, 8 March 2011 12:30 (thirteen years ago) link
"mmmwow mmmwow mmmwow mmmwow mmmwow mmmwow dbdbdbdbdeblelebelelelle Deep!"
― Mark G, Tuesday, 8 March 2011 12:32 (thirteen years ago) link
― Sorry to Ivor Cutler! Sorry to the Welsh people...but somehow welsh sounds like an English dude doing a bad Carribean accident to me at first listen!
there are actually 2 Cork accents 1 of which sounds a lot like this welsh/Jamaican thing. Would assume the Jamaican accent actually derived from an accent like this in a form from a couple of centuries back.
Wish I'd been walking around London with lists at Xmas, they had loads of Wyatt cds in for 5quid a pop in fopp. I think they sold from the display pretty rapidly & I forgot about them. Did pick up a couple though Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard and Old Rottenhat.
Was just thinking of going back to bed for a while and trying to find my Rock Bottom since I haven't listened to it in ages. Not sure where it is though. Must institute some kind of order in my cd storage.
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 8 March 2011 14:31 (thirteen years ago) link
Pretty sure Ivor Cutler is putting on a Caribbean (or possibly) accent on that track, by the way!
― Tom D (Tom D.), Tuesday, 8 March 2011 14:37 (thirteen years ago) link
http://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/8776-robert-wyatt/
:)
― bidfurd, Monday, 27 February 2012 22:41 (twelve years ago) link
<3 RW
― dollar eye twinkling (admrl), Monday, 27 February 2012 22:43 (twelve years ago) link
yes that was a lovely read. i'll be missing the salon thing with him at cafe oto (when songkick sent me its email announcing "new concert for robert wyatt" i almost had a heart attack) because i'm a dumbass who always forgets to buy advance tickets these days, but i'm sure it'll be great.
― shart practice (Merdeyeux), Monday, 27 February 2012 22:45 (twelve years ago) link
that otis is being a big meanie upthread >:(
― the wild eyed boy from soundcloud (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 27 February 2012 22:48 (twelve years ago) link
― dollar eye twinkling (admrl), Monday, February 27, 2012 4:43 PM (13 minutes ago)
― Steamtable Willie (WmC), Monday, 27 February 2012 22:57 (twelve years ago) link
There was a great little programme about RW on Radio 4 this week. "The Voices of Robert Wyatt", mid-morning, Tuesday. Listen to it this weekend before it drops of the i-Player.
― bham, Friday, 5 October 2012 09:26 (twelve years ago) link
Wyatt interviewed by Richie Unterberger, Richard Cook, Ian MacDonald ('74), and Ben Thompson, who also reviews Shleep--all currently in the Free section of Rock's Back Pages (click on a link and they send you a password)http://www.rocksbackpages.com/free.html#W
― dow, Tuesday, 9 October 2012 17:45 (eleven years ago) link
this was very nice alright. seems a lovely guy.
― Know how Roo feel (LocalGarda), Tuesday, 9 October 2012 19:41 (eleven years ago) link
Thanks for the heads up, this is a lovely documentary.
― Poor.Old.Tired.Horse. (Stew), Tuesday, 9 October 2012 23:38 (eleven years ago) link
been listening to this one a lot the past few days for w/e reason
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsLAY1OdZrA
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 02:53 (eleven years ago) link
wyatt, lydon, idk
This guy seems like such an incredible human. I seem to recall reading that he and his wife go to AA meetings not because they are alcoholics, but out of sympathy and unity with those afflicted. Or something like that.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 03:42 (eleven years ago) link
Nothing to do with the fact that he hadn't been pissed out of his head one night he wouldn't have ended up in a wheelchair?
― Hello, Good Evening and Expenses (Tom D.), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 10:07 (eleven years ago) link
No, Wyatt's an alcoholic and makes no secret of it. IN recovery for the last 5 years or so.
― Three Word Username, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 11:17 (eleven years ago) link
No, there was something more to it. Let me find it....
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 13:05 (eleven years ago) link
Oh, I see. I just misunderstood.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 13:09 (eleven years ago) link
guy's a hero and a gentleman, despite his often inflexible and reflexive politics.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 17:31 (eleven years ago) link
That BBC bit is indeed a lovely listen.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 17:53 (eleven years ago) link
I recently put this proposed box set together and loved the hell out of it. He sure deserves something like it!
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 31 January 2014 01:33 (ten years ago) link
Nice collection, Gerald, and a very well-done compilation for people who've never heard him. But I think it relies far too heavily on album tracks and misses many fine moments not on LP (like my favorite, Wyatt's vocal on the Epic Soundtracks single "Jelly, Babies," which was a Rough Trade 7" a-side and not released on CD until last year.) And those Dondestan tracks - Dondestan or Dondestan (Revisted)? Those are small gripes, but Wyatt fans tend not to be "casual" fans and are likely to own the entire oeuvre (at least the main albums) and would probably buy a box set only if it had a fair number of obscurities on it.
That's said, I'm burning a copy tonight. Thanks!
― crustaceanrebel, Saturday, 1 February 2014 23:07 (ten years ago) link
You're absolutely right, I noticed those issues as well, but it's an interesting attempt. I find his albums a bit inconsistent and appreciated the guide.
I just discovered "Jelly Babies" last year and it is indeed magnificent!
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 2 February 2014 00:19 (ten years ago) link